A Scoutmaster's Blog

I have collected a fair number of Scouting related items during the thirty-plus years I have been involved with our local Boy Scout Troop. One of these items is a vhs tape of Boy Scout Leader Fast Start Orientation from 2002. You see, there was a time, not that long ago, when adult leaders could not readily go to the internet to watch training videos. They had to borrow a vhs tape from their council office. I know, hard to believe.

While I am stuck at home recovering from neck surgery, I decided to make a digital copy of this 2002 training tape I received from the council when they decided to throw it out several years ago. Once I had a digital copy of it I thought it might be fun to share this 11 year old production with the viewers of the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast. The whole video is 32 minutes long so I broke it down into three parts.

This first part takes us through the process of planning and conducting a Boy Scout troop meeting. The video covers things very well and is still very reverent to today’s program. Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 has followed this format for decades with a lot of success. If you have new adult leaders in your troop I would recommend they sit down and watch this. I also think it is fun to watch a training video from 11 years ago.

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Tonight, the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 will use their troop meeting time to begin sales of their spring fundraiser, a Dad’s Belgium Waffle Supper to be held on Friday, March 22. The Scouts’ parents will drive them around town as they try to presell as many tickets as they are able in one and a half hours. After the meeting, they will be on their own to sell tickets. The boys not only are raising funds for troop activities and equipment, but they also earn troop credit toward the cost of summer camp, high adventure bases, and other select troop functions.

Here is a quick rundown of what the boys will be told tonight before they begin their ticket sales:

NOTES FOR TROOP MEAL FUNDRAISERS:

Meal Ticket Information:

Each adult meal ticket will be presold for $7.00 each.
Each children’s meal ticket (age 5 to 10) will be sold for $5.00 each.
Children age four and under will eat for free and do not require a ticket.

Ticket Sales Kick-off Night:

Each pouch contains 40 adult tickets and 5 children tickets, in addition to $10.00 in change. Count the tickets and money when receiving a pouch to verify what you receive. Each Boy Scout will be responsible for the contents of the pouch when he leaves to sell tickets.

Scouts shall not mix contents of their ticket pouch with other Scouts. Each Scout’s pouch will be counted and totaled when he returns to the starting point. The amount of money returned should equal tickets sold plus the $10.00 starting cash.

Boy Scouts shall wear their uniform when selling tickets. They shall be polite, courteous, and kind at each household, whether a ticket is sold or not. Always thank the homeowner for their time.

All tickets sold during the kick-off sales event will be added together for the night’s total. This total will be used to give each Scout who participated an equal share of credit toward his Individual credit account with the troop.

Ticket Individual Sales:

After the ticket sales kick-off Boy Scouts are encouraged to take meal tickets home to presell before the evening of the meal fundraiser.

If there are brothers in a family, tickets and moneys must be kept separate for each Boy Scout.

Scouts are responsible for all tickets taken and for the money from their sales. They will be required to pay for lost tickets or lost moneys. Be sure to empty pockets before doing laundry. Destroyed tickets must be paid for.

Individual Scout Credits:

Scouts will receive credit toward their individual troop account based on the number of tickets presold. The credit from the ticket sales kick-off event will be evenly divided among the participants that night. After this kick-off event the Scouts will be on their own selling tickets, earning credit for his own account.

Each adult ticket presold earns (?) account credit. Each children’s ticket earns (?) credit. Keep in mind that this is credit toward summer camp, high adventure bases, and certain other troop events, and is not cash for the Scout to receive. (Credit amounts have been left out for this blog post.)

A credit bonus can be earned if 1) the Scout participates in the ticket sales kick-off event, 2) presells tickets on his own after the kick-off event, and 3) both the Boy Scout and at least one parent works during the entire meal fundraiser. If all three criteria are met his credit earned from individual ticket sales will be doubled. (This does not include the credit earned during the ticket sales kick-off event.)

Any questions?

As active members of the Boy Scouts of America we all do our best do follow the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. I recently received an email from a friend in Europe that listed some other excellent suggestions to live by. See what you think of these…

1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
2. Marry a someone you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.
4. When you say, ‘I love you,’ mean it.
5. When you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ look the person in the eye.
6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
7. Believe in love at first sight.
8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
9.  Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.
12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer,  smile and ask, ‘Why do you want to know?’
14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great  risk.
15. Say ‘bless you’ when you hear someone sneeze.
16. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
17. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
18. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
19. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
21. Spend some time alone.

It has been one year since I retired as the scoutmaster of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. It has been an interesting, but sometimes confusing year. After thirty years of serving as a scoutmaster I am trying to figure out what my role should be and where I now fit in with the troop.

I knew one of those new roles would be as advisor to the new scoutmaster. When the new scoutmaster stepped down after five months (he was also serving as the pack cubmaster) I found myself to be an adviser to the NEW new scoutmaster, Jim. Jim has taken to his role well and is not afraid to ask questions. He has taken all the online training and has been attending the monthly district roundtables. He has continued many of the things I brought to the troop but he is also adding a few of his own touches, which is to be expected.

When I visit a troop meeting, I have to watch myself. I find that I sometimes will step back into the role of scoutmaster when I see some help may be needed. When I catch myself I take a step back. I am getting better. The Scouts still seem to enjoy that I come to some of the troop meetings.

Patrol Leader Council meetings are still held at my home. It is a center point for the out of town families. The scoutmaster likes it because I am there to offer suggestions when needed. It has also offered a continuity to the meetings through the last year of adult leader changes.

I will admit that it has been strange not attending the monthly troop activities. I like that I may now pick and choose which outings I will attend instead of being expected to attend everyone of them. It was weird not attending a long term camp with the troop in 2012. After all, I have spent every summer vacation for the last 30 years with Boy Scouts, either at summer camp, Philmont Scout Ranch, a Jamboree, or some other high adventure outing.

I currently serve as the troop treasurer on the committee. After a year I have decided that although I guess I am doing a good job, I really do not enjoy doing it as much I as thought I might. I miss working with the Scouts. It may be time to look at changing to something new. I wonder if the troop could use an assistant scoutmaster?

It has been interesting how many people in the area think that I have retired from the Scouting program when they hear that I have stepped down as the scoutmaster of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. I explain to them that I am still active with the troop, that I serve on the committee as the treasurer, and that I am still assisting the new scoutmaster through the transition.

I am not ready to leave the Scout program completely. It has been a part of me for nearly 3/4 of my life. I was a Boy Scout in my youth. I was an assistant scoutmaster before being appointed the scoutmaster. The Scout Oath and Law have literally become the guidelines in my life, along with the ten commandments.

Oh, I am sure that someday I may step away from the program, but it will be a slow transition. We have a Boy Scout who is going to Philmont this summer and I want to be there to help as he prepares for his adventure. Some Scouts want to earn merit badges for which I serve as a counselor. A few of the boys have a good chance of becoming Eagles Scouts and I want to be around to see that happen and celebrate their accomplishment with them. Plus, there are still troop activities I plan to attend. I am even thinking about going back to spend a week with the troop at Many Point Scout Camp this summer. (I did not attend last year and I missed it.)

No, I am not ready to retire from Scouting just yet,  but I am ready to try some new things outside of Scouting with the extra time I have. Any suggestions?

Cub Scout Pack 68 of Melrose will have a new Pinewood Derby track this year when the big day arrives. To tell the truth, it is long past time for a new track. The pack has been using the same one for the last 30 years. It is made of steel and is very heavy. It is also worn out. The pieces do not fit smoothly any longer. During the last two years some of the derby cars would jump their lanes when they hit the splices, even though the fathers did all they could to smooth the lanes with duct tape. Coats were used at the end of the track to cushion the cars as they came to a stop. Some races had to be rerun because the judges could not pick a winner during the close races. The pack does not have a track timer.

Two local Lion Clubs have donated money to purchase a new track. The cubmaster has been doing some homework to determine which track might best serve the pack’s needs. Pack 68 is a small pack with only 16 Cub Scouts. Chances are the new track will have two lanes, just like the old one does. He is also checking out timers so we know who wins those close races. I joked with him that he should sell the old track for scrap steel to raise the money for the timer.

The Cub Scouts and families are looking forward to this year’s races on a new Pinewood Derby track. It will be sleek. It will be smooth. It will be faster. And it will be super cool! It looks like it will be a great racing season in 2013 and beyond.

UPDATE! The cubmaster has made his choice and ordered the track. It will be a two lane Besttrack, from besttrack.com along with a two lane timer. he also said there is software available that allows us to organize the entire event and that the timer plugs into the computer to track everything. He might buy the software and donate it to the pack. I am starting to looking to attending this year’s derby.

Have any of you used a Besttrack track and timer? How do you like it?

Here it is, the last post to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast for the year of 2012. The goal has always been to post at least one video each month, or at least twelve per year. This podcast will keep that twelve per year goal.

When the Cub Scouts of Melrose Pack 68 met for their December pack meeting, they knew it was going to be fun. The parents knew it could get a bit messy. The cubmaster knew he had a lot of baking to do. The Cub Scouts, along with help from their parents, were going to make gingerbread houses and decorate them with lots of candies, crackers, and other building accessories. Each one ended up being a masterpiece, but a couple of them did not make it home in one piece. I think they could have used a little more mortar (frosting) to hold them together.

This video post to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast includes video of the boys and their parents creating the houses and photos of the Cub Scouts with their finished projects. It is eight minutes long. I hope you enjoy it. Maybe this would be a good project for your Cub Scout Pack next Christmas.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Watch it online at the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast channel at PTC Media.
Subscribe to Melrose Scout Productions Podcast through iTUNES  (and rate the show)
or at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Don’t forget to leave a comment here, at iTunes, or on the forums at PTC Media.

Those of you that follow Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, on Twitter (@buttonst68) have noticed that he has been posting a Scouting themed Twelve Days of Christmas. The twelve days follow the twelve points of the Scout Law, beginning with trustworthy and ending with reverent on the twelfth day. Here are the twelve verses, in case you missed them.

One the twelfth day of Christmas my Scout Leader gave to me…
Twelve reverent chaplain aides,
Eleven clean mess kits,
Ten brave teddy bears,
Nine thrifty gift cards,
Eight cheerful campfires,
Seven obedient Cub Scouts,
Six kindly Eagles,
FIVE COURTEOUS SCOUTS,
Four friendly camp staff,
Three helpful maps,
Two loyal dogs,
and a trustworthy GPS.

Now that you have that song stuck in your head, have a great day!

For those of you who like the poem Twas The Night Before Christmas check out this post from a few years ago:

Twas The Scout’s Christmas Party